One form of marketing a medical practice online that’s slated to see double-digit growth over the next few years is Google Maps, often claimed to be “the next YellowPages” by techies and online marketing pros.
It’s conceivable the conventional phone book will fade away as local search utilities like Google Maps take over. I mean really, how much do you use your local phone book to find something you need?
You may be thinking that computers will lead this revolution, but wait. With the rise of SmartPhones like the Blackberry or IPhone, you’re going to see many people relying on these Internet accessible devices to find things they need…perhaps when they’re just out and about running errands.
If you’re currently using the YellowPages to market your medical practice, this signifies a transition in how people find you. If your website/listing doesn’t appear in Google Maps and elsewhere, you are potentially losing out on a lot of potential patients.
To demonstrate, a 35-year old tech savvy attendee of an online marketing/SEO training course flipped out his Google Maps utility on his smart phone. With the device’s GPS feature, the phone could tell the person their location and the proximity of businesses that have what they’re looking for, which they searched for using keyword phrases.
So if you operate an urgent care clinic in Paducah, Kentucky and someone in the area needed your services, they can simply take their smart phone and find the closest facilities to their current location.
If you’re currently using the YellowPages or other outbound marketing channels to market your medical practice, it would be beneficial for you to at least consider the opportunities that lie in waiting in the ‘local search’ revolution.